The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Invasion

The White Whale flew smoothly through the night air, all but completely restored. I'd reconnected wires that had been cut—the metal parts, at least, though there was little I could do for the insulation; Vulturnus dealt with it regardless. Not much to say for the broken glass, either, though I'd cleaned up the shards and Levant used her power to shield the ship. After over a week of preparation, we were strong enough for it.

Nothing stopped me at the border, but then, I hadn't expected them to. I'm sure I was spotted pretty much instantly, though; I'd considered trying to make cover of some kind, like a massive sheet of mist, but given the effort it would take to create, maintain, and move such a thing such a vast distance, it just hadn't been worthwhile. And really, were they going to be less suspicious of a giant cloud of mist covering vast distances while staying together in a climate that didn't really fit it? Probably not. I'd considered my options and had eventually just settled on flying as fast as I could. With any luck, I'd get in and out before anyone figured out where I was going and got to me.

And because, whatever my status screen claimed, I didn't have any luck, I came dressed for a fight. Lenore covered my face even as my body was cloaked in Dreary Midnight, of course, but I'd also cleaned and redesigned my gauntlets with my higher Craft and Crocea's increased power. My Elementals were ready beside me, now so used to the ship's processes that they didn't even need to be on the spot. Together we watched the world roll by below us and after the time we'd spent together, it was a familiar, comfortable silence.

But as the White Whale rose over my target at last, I spoke.

"Levant, Vulturnus, Xihai," I said and the three raised their hands. What happened next was something even I couldn't see, an invisible play of molecules in the air to begin a process that Vulturnus assisted—or, perhaps more accurately, which assisted him. A moment later, lightning fell from the clear sky. Two more followed in quick succession, each directed towards a different place, a different weak point.

Even as the White Whale began to lower, the few remaining lights in the town flickered out and died. Here, on a clear night away from the city and light pollution, a million stars cloaked the skies in a display of natural beauty around the crown jewel of the moon. A cloudy night would have been more convenient, but I couldn't deny it was breathtaking to look at.

I doubted the human inhabitants of the town agreed, whichever ones were still awake. Even with the light of flickering stars and a waning moon, the night got dark this far from civilization in a way that was hard to describe unless you could see it. People mocked others for being afraid of the dark, something easy to do in cities like Vale and Atlas where it never got dark, not truly. There were always lights on in buildings, lamp posts, towers and beacons. However childish people claimed it was to fear the darkness, we did everything in our power to distance ourselves from it, to escape it.

After all, it wasn't that long ago when we couldn't. When we didn't have Dust and hadn't pushed the darkness back. And in a world without that, when the Grimm were so at home in the night…darkness was something to be feared, something synonymous with danger and death.

It still was, really—once all the lights went out.

I looked at Vulturnus who flickered and flashed beside me, looking in every direction, watching everything and everyone. He didn't look at me or even twitch at my attention, but I felt his shifting presence at the edge of my thoughts and there was an image drawn in it, made of sparks and circuits of light.

There are still many sparks, Vulturnus spoke into my head, a hum to the not-words. Shall I snuff them out as well?

"Kill any other lights you find and cut any communications that are still working," I said. "I'll meet you there."

There was a flash of glowing teeth in lightning's changing face and then he lost form entirely, dematerializing and rushed out of the ship. The few lights that had been on, mainly the ones near him, flickered out.

Suryasta and Levant handed the landing and the ship immediately died as they pulled away their power. Crocea Mors withdrew into my gauntlets as the others dematerialized as well, returning to a completely spiritual form.

It was…a questionable move, tactically speaking, but also one I'd thought about extensively. Unless I absolutely had to, I didn't want to reveal I could summon Elementals, because there was more at stake than just the battle. Part of that was, yes, because if people saw them while I was disguised, I'd never be able to summon them in my normal life…but that was honestly a relatively minor reason, simply because I wasn't sure I'd be able to summon them normally anyways, because of the attention it would draw as a power out of a literal fairy tale. I was still unsure how I was going to make all my powers fly in my normal life, especially since after this I wouldn't want people to ask too many questions about me. I could get away with a lot as a scion of the Arc family, but if I went crazy, people would eventually start going 'Wait, what?'

Since he was subtle while materialized, I could pass off most of what Crocea Mors did as a result of pure skill. Levant, Suryasta, Vulturnus, and Xihai represented wind, fire, lightning, and water, the four basic types of Dust, so I could pass off most of that as a talent with Dust while they were dematerialized. But if things out of a famous fairy tale followed me to school…well, People would ask questions I couldn't or wouldn't answer. I was fine with my friends knowing about my Semblance and I'd tell my family once I got home, but random people? My enemies? No thanks. If my mother didn't murder me when I got home, she might be able to think of a good explanation for what I did or cover for me or something, but for now…

So it wasn't really a desire to keep them from being seen, per se. A better reason was the element of surprise, to keep an ace in the hole. Inaccurate information, much like poor communication, tends to be bad for one's health, which is great when it's happening to your enemies. That was a pretty good reason and was why most people didn't advertise the precise nature of their Semblances.

But the truth was that I just didn't want my friends known as terrorists. The fact that I wouldn't be able to use them as easily came in distantly second to that, a minor issue in comparison. I knew it probably wouldn't bother any of them in the slightest what people thought of them, but…

I shook my head, reaching up to tap a finger against Lenore. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it had something to do with how I got while wearing it, but…hm. It didn't matter, I thought as I left the ship, striding out into the night air. My arrival hadn't gone unnoticed by the Faunus of the town and I saw people moving hurriedly as I stepped into the open air and floated down from the White Whale. I got a lot of strange, fearful looks as I glided to the earth, as did the monstrosity behind me, but no one ran as I landed. I guess they thought the promise of a new life was worth the risk.

I cast my gaze over the crowd, scanning titles more than faces, and stopped on one in particular.

"Faraj," I murmured, using Levant's power to make my voice carry. I tilted my head at the White Fang member I'd seen a few days ago and gestured him forward with a finger. He was already dressed in a hood and mask, but he hesitated for a moment before approaching, probably off put by how easily I'd identified him despite his state of dress and having no memory of me. "I see word reached you."

"Yes, sir," He confirmed, uncertainty in his voice. "Just in time. We were about to, uh, pull out. Because of the video, I mean, we…well, we'd thought…"

"That I was dead," I answered with forced boredom.

"Um. Yes, sir," He replied. "You were…"

He dropped his voice, as if afraid to be overheard—whether by those around him or the beast in question.

"The Ziz," He whispered. "Was it really…?"

"Yes," I replied, tone unchanging.

"Then, uh…" He looked at me and then at the ship—the broken windows, the lightless depths, the superficial scars I hadn't wasted metal on repairing. "How…"

I huffed out a shallow breath and smiled very slightly, which made him fall silent.

"Ziz will not be an issue for the time being," I assured, gesturing dismissively to put a halt to his questions. It's all about image, about avoiding questions, about making people think you had the power and were in charge. "Now, if we may proceed…?"

Faraj stared at me for a moment, eyes hidden but probably widened, before bobbing his head.

"Yes, sir," He replied. "We were contacted this morning and told everyone to get ready. Most of them didn't have much to pack, so…well, here they are."

I scanned the crowd quietly for a minute and went down the mental list I'd made previously. My Intelligence was high enough to memorize something after seeing it once and I was pretty sure I'd seen most of the town. The list dwindled quickly as I looked over the crowd, but a few names remained. I waited for a moment as a few other people gathered near the ship, late arrivals, and struck them off the list.

"Where are Nyarai, Eavan, Edan, and Samual?" I asked. I saw surprise and confusion flicker across Faraj's face, along with even more hesitation, but he swallowed once and replied.

"I think Eavan asked her brother for help cleaning up," Faraj. "The other two may have come along to help; I was busy getting everyone in order."

I clicked my tongue once and felt Levant reaching outwards into the dancing air. What she sent back to we was a strange image, things seen through the air their displaced and breathed. I lifted my head and spoke.

"You four, stop wasting my time and get back to the ship. I'll handle the town," I said, voice reverberating strangely as it stretched out to distant ears. I felt them stop, saw them speak through how it moved through the air, and, finally, obey. I nodded to myself and looked back Faraj who swallowed again.

"All of you," I said and though I didn't lift my voice, I made it carry far. "You are free. I am here to take you away from this place, to the Kingdom of Vale where you can start new lives. Better lives. Come with me and I will give you a chance."

As speeches go, I don't think it was very impressive and it probably would have been better if it hadn't come from a dark figure standing in front of an even darker looking ship, but while I didn't get any applause, no one ran away. I called that a success.

"Lead them to their seats," I said to Faraj. "There are signs on the walls."

Then Levant lifted him suddenly into the air, raising him up to the ship's entrance as he gave a sudden yelp. Sadly, I didn't have any hydraulic stairs, so I had to make do.

"Form a line," I said to the crowd. "We'll leave as soon as everyone's aboard. Emil, keep things in order."

The other White Fang member—who must have been new because his title had been different a few days ago—started at being addressed but nodded quickly. He wasn't wearing the outfit or anything else indicating what he was. I saw him look at me, open his mouth, and then close it. He wanted to know, but didn't want to ask.

I watched for a moment to make sure everything was in order and then walked passed them into the town, leaving an invisible Levant behind. I already knew where the humans inside it were—hiding in their houses, mainly—but I ignored them, uninterested in 'cleaning up.' I was here to save the slaves, not punish the master, whatever their crimes. Maybe they did deserve to be punished for what they'd done, but I'd done my fair share of horrible things these last few weeks and I didn't really want to add murder to the list. I was pretty sure Blake wouldn't have wanted that, either, even if I had probably ruined her plan already.

So instead, I found my way to the top of a large building, wondering when things would go wrong. I watched the skies with my four eyes, on the lookout for approaching danger, my Elementals stretching out their own senses to assist me. Vulturnus returned and joined me in watching the skies, Xihai sitting down beside me while Suryasta stood with closed eyes. Even with the occasional startled scream coming from the ship's direction, it was almost peaceful.

Then Vulturnus turned his face to the North and ruined it.

I see more lights.

I followed his gaze and then rose with a sigh.

"Yeah," I said. "Me, too. A little faster than expected, but…oh, whatever."

I wondered, in Levant's general direction, how the loading was going and sighed again at the image she returned. I'd need to buy some time, it seemed.

Seven lights, Vulturnus said as the ships in the sky continued their approach. With more inside.

More machines? Well, we were in Atlas. If anything, hopefully we'd face nothing but machines.

I glanced down at Xihai inquisitively and she blinked her shiny black eyes at me before shaking her head.

Empty.

"Hm…is it actually my lucky day, then?" I wondered. "That can't be right…what else do you see, Vulturnus?"

The Elemental watched the ships, surprisingly focused. He didn't shift or move, but watched it with interest.

Something bright inside, He said before pausing a moment as if searching for the words to explain. In the end, his expression flashed into a frown for a moment which I took as a failure. And something bright inside.

"I don't understand," I admitted.

He paused for a moment before giving up on words and showing me, letting the world unravel into circuits and charges, actions and reactions. I saw what he saw and understood.

There was something bright inside and it was bright inside.

"Still not my lucky day, I guess. Shocking," I murmured. "Just…shocking."

I snapped my fingers and a flash of lightning blew away the night.

Don't fight enemies that have control of the skies.

Just don't. If it's even remotely possible to avoid, do so. You do not want any of that action. There are a lot of reasons for it, tactical and strategic—the advantages of mobility, supply lines, transportation, the conducting of otherwise impossible operations, information gathering, and many more. Most importantly in the immediate sense, however, is that a group who controls the skies can shoot a lot of shit at a group who doesn't. Whether bullets or bombs, it didn't really matter; you weren't going to enjoy it. If you had any way of dealing with that I suggest you employ it as quickly as possible, before they can get into position.

Which was why I shot them with lightning. Well, that's not quite true—the amount of energy required to create lightning is…well, large. I could probably do it, but it'd likely be a, no pun intended, charged attack and a very costly one. When I had time, I'd practice it and see what I could do on that front, but in the meantime, I cheated.

This was another occasion where I was grateful for high Intelligence and Wisdom—and grateful for the fact that I studied a lot to increase the former. See, while it was difficult to create lightning directly, doing so indirectly was another matter, if you knew how. It's a matter of charge separation, the collisions of water molecules in the air, and other facts; the many things that came together to create lightning in nature. With the power of Levant and Xihai, I drew water into the air, stirring it, cooling it, and occasionally heating it with Suryasta's aid. Vulturnus wielded his power at its most basic level, manipulating charges by repelling them or attracting them. Vulturnus and Levant can together to ionize air and create a conductive path in pretty much the opposite way that I'd once used Levant to defend against lightning. I wielded my power carefully over the air, over my target, negative here, positive there, linked thusly—

And lightning was born, a flash of light that cut through the air for an instant before fading away. It would have been better if it had been a cloudy night—or, even better, an already stormy one—and my creation was only a fraction as fierce as it could have been.

But it was still lightning and in its wake rumbled the thunder. Worse yet, it was lightning controlled and directed by a human mind. I singled out the most dangerous ship—the one that ferried something which shined so brightly—and I created a path to a vulnerability. Like any aircraft nowadays, it had lightning protect, built to deal with the almost inevitable strikes they would create or receive over their course of use, but that was mainly designed to deal with the results of luck and chance. For something meant to strike out and sabotage…that takes something else.

Sadly, it didn't seem like Atlas had created any robots able to directly use yellow Dust yet.

Lightning struck the ship and lights flickered as the thunder rumbled. I saw, through Vulturnus' eyes, lights die out throughout and within the ship as it began to wobble before starting to careen towards the earth far away from me. Yet as I watched, the light that shined brightly within it did not so much as dim.

I guess that was too much to hope for. I didn't even know what it was, but I was pretty sure I wanted to keep it far, far away from me and told myself to be satisfied when it crashed in the forest, out of sight. Of course, being out of sight and surrounded by much taller objects made striking at it vastly more difficult, but I didn't need to win, I just needed to keep them at bay.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and shifted my focus to the next ship. There were seven in all, a fairly major assault for what must have been short notice, but given everything that had happened I guess they were on high alert. Or maybe they'd just gone above and beyond to make me feel special.

Either way, I pointed a finger at the next one and focused, my Elementals, even distant Levant, doing the same. Air and water gathered and shifted and collided, heat flowed, charges repelled and attracted, electric fields strengthened, air ionized. Water, fire, air, and lightning, the four basic types of Dust, came together towards one purpose, a display of nature's power.

I tracked the ships course as seconds passed and power gathered—and then, with the twitch of a finger, it was falling. I paused for a moment to breath in the scent of a storm on the air and moved on the next, clearing the skies a ship at a time while the seconds ticked by and jagged lengths of light writhed in the skies.

It wasn't fast, but it didn't have to be for this. One by one they fell, none even reaching the edge of the town even though they'd advanced fearlessly through the lightning I'd conjured. I watched dispassionately as the last crashed to earth nearby, falling with an echoing crash of groaning, tearing steel. I saw sparks, broken glass, and smoke, and glanced at Vulturnus with one set of eyes. His head flickered between watching the ship in sight and staring at something in the distance, so I shifted my gaze to match.

There was a rattle within the box like ship, followed by another groan of abused steel as a door came loose. A robot, one of the Atlesian Knights, walked from the wreckage, dragging a ruined leg behind him, and slowly his remaining fellows gathered, in similar states of repair. In the darkness of the ship, I could see twisted, broken forms laying still, but the defenders of Mantle had been created as fearless as they were relentless and were intent on completing their mission, however reduced their numbers.

I watched them for a moment before sighing slowly, scratching a cheek with my left hand before leaping down to the ground and walking slowly out of the town. I stopped when I stood before them all, nineteen total, and remembered my first real fight, the first time I got involved with the White Fang and fought these same machines. Looking back at it, it seemed like such a long time ago, but it was only about a month.

Back when I was level two.

"Intruder," Spoke the nearest machine. "You are under arrest for your crimes against the Schnee Dust Company and the Kingdom of Atlas. Surrender—"

I cracked my neck and looked at the head I held, the fingers of my right hand curled over its face. Behind me, its body crumbled to the ground with a dull rattle of steel. I mused at its head before letting it fall from my fingers and roll across the ground. Around me, the robots shifted at my sudden movement, some limbs responding more slowly than others. For a moment, I just stared back at them speculatively.

These things had been pretty dangerous when I was level two, I recalled.

But I'd come a long way since level two.

Limbs shifted into guns and opened fire, but I was already gone, reacting the moment I sensed danger and lunging away. Crocea Mors made their steel brittle at the touch, Vulturnus making machines fry, but I barely needed it. Even if I could wield my power easily over these Aura-less machines, it made no real difference one way or another. It was almost refreshing, really, to fight opponents that were legitimately, objectively far weaker then I was, and I tore into them as I had with the Grimm during my training. It was short and brutal, blurring motion, torn limbs, disemboweled circuitry. I tore them apart and brushed the remains off my hands when I was through.

It was short and brutal and easy—a reminder that however many horrible situations I got into, however many powerful opponents I faced, I had gotten stronger. It felt almost like fate throwing me a bone.

So I felt rather justified feeling suspicious. Not because of my horrible luck—though, I admit it, that played a role—but because it didn't make much sense for Atlas to respond to a major threat with Atlesian Knights. They were meant to defend areas, fight minor threats like Beowolves or mob things like Ursa, combatting the little threats to buy time, protect low risk locations, or assist greater forces. Given what I'd done, what they had last seen of me, who I'd attacked, and what I stolen, it didn't make sense for them to respond to me as if I were a minor or even middling threat.

Or…perhaps what I'd originally thought of as a major operation was in fact the opposite? Could they be understaffed? It would make a sense, given what I already suspected about Ziz's recent appearance; Hunters would have been called back to Atlas and sent to reinforce and defend key areas. The larger machines, like the Spider Droids and such, would have been positioned similarly, layers of protection around places and people off import. The Gamer's Mind had muted my fear, but I was sure many people must have been in a panic at Ziz's reemergence, so there was also the matter of placating the public even in ways that weren't necessarily effective—even if a Droid placed near some district or town wouldn't so much as slow Ziz down, having something to look at an remind people of Atlas' protection could go a long ways towards keeping down panic.

But even more then dedicating its forces to border control, that would stretch their forces thin. Given that, if something unexpected happened at a location that wasn't major, I suppose it wasn't that strange if they'd had to cobble together whatever they could on short notice. A bunch of cannon fodder to assist a heavy hitter may well be all they could spare until they rearranged their forces elsewhere.

Frowning, I checked the ship and took count. Adding to the nineteen outside, there were about fifty of the machines in this one ship. Seven ships makes that over three hundred which I supposed was a pretty major investment given the situation, but…

I directed my attention to Vulturnus who was once more focus entirely on the forest and felt his mind slide over my own as the world dissolved into a portrait of charges and light. I saw some of those lights, other robots that had survived the crashes I assumed, coming towards me with variable speeds, but I focused my attention on the brightest of them all, the shining beacon of light that illuminated the Elemental's senses. Whatever it was, Xihai hadn't sensed enough water in its form for it to be human, which meant…I don't know.

Trouble, probably. Even if they were stretched thinly, they'd send something big. If possible, I'd rather not find out what.

Levant, I reached out to check her progress. With nearly a thousand people needing to be transferred one by one into a small opening, it was slow going and not really something to be rushed, but…

I sighed at the image she returned and prepared myself. All my sustained skills were up and running and all my Elementals were out. I opened my status screen with a whisper and glanced over it, wondering if I should distribute my points now and, if so, how. I was very close but I still hadn't leveled up—which really seemed kind of unfair, but I could distribute my points to take two of my physical stats above fifty. I'd gotten some mild training in this last week, running to and from Atlas, but…the truth was that I didn't know what I'd get or what I'd need. Should I go for Strength, Stamina, or Dexterity? I had no idea what skills my physical abilities would give me. Stamina would probably be something defensive, Strength would probably assist damage, Dexterity…could go either way or something in between. Without knowing the specifics of them or my opponent, though…

I decided to be patient and wait for my enemy to appear. When they stood before me, I'd Observe them, decide what I needed most, and make my choice.

Assuming I didn't die before I could, of course.

So I closed my eyes as the seconds passed by, feeling Levant moving passengers in the back of my mind as I watched the world through Vulturnus' eyes. I slid out of sight, into the shadows of a building, fists ready beneath my cloak even as the light reached the edge.

For a moment, there was silence as it—she—came into sight. A girl, my age or a bit younger, with short and curly orange-red hair. About half a foot shorter than me, maybe a little more, I saw freckles on her skin, beneath bright green eyes. A blouse and overalls, a collar and matching stockings, she looked…not at all like I expected.

But I didn't relax even as her eyes scanned the periphery and focused on me easily, though the shadows and partial cover. She smiled brightly at me and lifted a hand, but it did nothing to disarm me.

"Salutations!" She greeted. "I have been sent to apprehend you!"

However she seemed, appearances meant little to me. For floating in the air above her head…

A Real Girl

LV59

Penny Polendina